Are We There Yet?

Thinktank Media's Ben & Sam with Ali (and some serious long Island Iced Tea's)

This Blog for Caroline Serviced Apartments first went live in mid-2009 when the awesome team at Thinktank Media assisted our plunge into the Social Media world. Originally, we aimed to provide content on our apartments, activities in the local area, and other topics that our staff believe may be of interest to our guests (like Alex’s yummy recipes). We also hoped to provide a welcoming ‘face’ to our company branding, and letting our personalities shine through in our posts. We believe our apartments speak for themselves on our website, and even more so when you actually visit them in person. So this blog is another way for us to add value, or help our guests feel comfortable with our team even before they’ve met us in person!

When I first began brainstorming ideas for blog posts, I realised I have quite a repertoire of stories of life behind the scenes in the accommodation industry. Every day we welcome new guests into our properties, who share with us their own stories (and occasional drama). While stories of guest antics would probably make a fairly decent read, it could also scare travelers away from us. So it’s a fine line walked between providing privacy to guests, and offering enough intrigue to appeal to readers. If I wrote a post about those crazy antics of guests, you probably won’t believe me when you read it anyway!

Anna & Ali on a cold night out

A blog provides us with a medium in which we can engage with our guests. Sometimes I am convinced that no one is reading our posts, as comments are rarely made (or if they are it is often just spam from other accommodation providers in Bangalore). What if anyone who finds our blog just thinks we’re all weirdo’s? Are we really adding any value to our guest experiences? Travelers tend to be more active on social websites such as Facebook, Twitter, TripAdvisor or other online communities.

Writing a blog post takes time. I often write my posts in the comfort of my home in the evenings after a busy working day (with a nice glass of wine in hand). I find it very difficult to allocate a solid couple of hours during business hours to write a post. What with the phone ringing, the guests arriving, the housekeepers fluttering about, and the staff always wanting to ‘run something by me’ – it’s hard to escape the constant busy-ness of this business! However, I’m passionate about this blog, and hope that it offers some value to our readers.

Imogene has recently joined the team

If nothing else, I hope this blog shows off the amazing team that we have here at Caroline Apartments. I’ve named this post ‘Are We There Yet?’ because we have just gone through a massive staffing restructure and we’re very excited to have 2 new team members joining us! We’ll let them get a bit more settled in their role before they start developing blog posts though… The whole team seem to eat up the opportunity to put their stamp of individuality on our business via the blog – even though I often hear that they have trouble starting out on a new post. I’m confident that once they find the writing style that they’re comfortable with, they’ll be able to provide some great content.

So why do we keep this blog going? The blog has become part of our culture, bringing people to our site who may not have found us otherwise, and giving our guests a taste of what to expect before they check-in. We hope to continue bringing fresh ideas and content to our blog, and welcome any suggestions or feedback that you may have.